I was looking through the service tables in my Alldata subscription and found it interesting that Saturn actually requires very few things of a 100K service on the engine. Really its just valve adjustment, timing belt, plugs.
Notice they are not recommending
1) not tensor
2) not water pump
3) not pullys (idler or tensor)
4) not cam sprockets
5) not seals crank or cam

I know a lot of people talk about doing this stuff at 100K but I'm thinking I'll skip it until its necessary. Right now I"m considering just doing the belt and the pullys and will not do anything else unless I see a problem with the pump, leaking oil or a bad tensor.

Does this board have service experience that says otherwise? Is there really a need to do more than Saturn says?

-Robert

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So far I've only got L81 experience, but fwiw - I didn't have any visible timing belt wear after 93k - it definitely had a lot more life left in it. But I think it was prudent changing the tensioner and idlers. The water pump had nothing to do with my timing belt, but for $58.79, while I had it exposed, I thought it would be worth not having to worry about that for a long time. Certainly no need to replace sprockets.

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So far I've only got L81 experience, but fwiw - I didn't have any visible timing belt wear after 93k - it definitely had a lot more life left in it. But I think it was prudent changing the tensioner and idlers. The water pump had nothing to do with my timing belt, but for $58.79, while I had it exposed, I thought it would be worth not having to worry about that for a long time. Certainly no need to replace sprockets.

We've discussed this job in the past and have seen prices of upwards of $1,000 for a dealer to do it and less for your local guy to do it. Are there special tools needed? How do you hold the timing where it should be when you're in there routing around? If your Vue has 90,000+ on it, doing the water pump while it's apart is very prudent. With 90,000+ on it, I don't think I'd risk ruining the whole top end if it's only a $300 DIY job.

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Are there special tools needed? How do you hold the timing where it should be when you're in there routing around?

I had instructions that came with the Gates kit and some that I downloaded from Autozone. I found them both to be very confusing because of all the bogus "special tools" they wanted you to use. I've become convinced that special tools are somebody's lame attempt at a money-making scheme. I wound up resorting to common sense. The only thing I think you need is something to stop the Cam Spockets from moving - see this thread . . .http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=144381

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i did a writeup on this,,only speacial tool u need is to remove the crank pully and its only like 30$

Everytime I've looked for this holding tool its been near $200. However, I figured I didn't need it since I have an impact wrench. I'm assuming that a few hits of the impact would do it. However, the holding tool would be useful if cam sprokets need to be replaced.

-Robert

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Impact tool wouldn't budge mine and I had to use a floor jack to push the breaker bar hard enough to break the crank bolt loose after installing the holding tool

Holy Crap! They're calling for 180 ft/lb of torque on that bolt? Jesus, did they have problems with them flying off at 100 ft/lbs? So I'm guessing that this tool, my 1/2 driver breaker bar and my 800 ft/lb impact wrench should do the job?

-Robert

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How do you hold the timing where it should be? Is there enough room in that area to use an impact gun and/ or all the other stuff that comes to mind? What else have you guys replaced while you're in there? The water pump? What else?

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How do you hold the timing where it should be? Is there enough room in that area to use an impact gun and/ or all the other stuff that comes to mind? What else have you guys replaced while you're in there? The water pump? What else?

Saturn's recommendation for the 100K service is *only* the belt, no pullys, no tensor, no water pumps, etc. Just the timing belt. The tensor on the 3.5 is a lot more sophisticated than the older motors that were spring driven.

-Robert

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The 3.5l is a single overhead cam where the 3.0 is dual cams. The single cam tends to hold its position better than the dual due to more even pressure on the cam lobes from the intake and exhaust valves.

Hope that makes some sense

Oh, and replace that water pump while you're in there.

...2007 STS-V
2006 STS 1SC
2005 STS 1SE MRC, ACC, HUD

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The 3.5l is a single overhead cam where the 3.0 is dual cams. The single cam tends to hold its position better than the dual due to more even pressure on the cam lobes from the intake and exhaust valves.

Hope that makes some sense

Oh, and replace that water pump while you're in there.

Yes, definitely replace the water pump. Hey, you have some neat vehicles in your driveway!! I like the Fiero GT's.

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